Chapter 1

Ryan couldn’t believe his eyes, he seriously couldn’t believe his eyes. He was at a crime scene at the beach, on order of Speed. The scruffy man had taken over Horatio’s job temporarily while the the red head had taken time of for his honey moon. Ryan had been busy processing the body when he’d looked up and had seen Horatio standing there behind the yellow tape.

Horatio was wearing his regular sunglasses, but that was the only thing regular about him. He was wearing a sky blue t-shirt that outlined his thin physique and khaki shorts. His feet were bare and his red hair was messy. He’d grinned when Ryan had looked up and shrugged his shoulders, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his stance slightly slouched.

He’d never seen Horatio look like that, he was used to dark suits and red hair combed to perfection, standing ramrod straight. He was used to the intense eyes and the sometimes grim expression on a tanned face. But now Horatio was smiling gently.

Ryan straightened from where he’d crouched down near the body to take a closer look at the scratch marks on her upperarms and approached the older man. He had to admit, now that he was over his shock at seeing Horatio in anything but his regular suit, he looked good. Married life obviously suited him.

“Nice tan.” Ryan said as a way of greeting.

Horatio chuckled and gave Ryan a boyish grin that he’d never seen before. “Thanks. Nice body.” He said, nodding to the corpse. He took of his sunglasses, fiddled with them for a second and then put them in his pocket.

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, Mary Shermon. Seems to have a lot of injuries, like she’s been in a fight. No obvious cause of death, Alexx will know more when she takes her back to the lab. No major leads so far.”

“Sounds interesting.” Horatio said.

Ryan grinned. “I suppose so, but you shouldn’t be thinking about work right now, should you?”

On some level he was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Horatio like that. Previously he’d always remained a respectful distance because Horatio was his boss. But now that he was married to Rowen, he was more then that. In the world Ryan and Rowen lived in, Horatio was family now and it seemed that Horatio didn’t mind.

Horatio smiled ruefully. “I know. But old habbits and all of that.”

They shared a laugh.

“Rowen around here?” Ryan asked.

Horatio motioned with his hand towards the ocean. “She’s taking a swim. I didn’t know she liked swimming so much. This is the fifth day at the beach, and we’ve only been on our honey moon for six days.”

Ryan grinned deviously, let it never be said that Rowen hadn’t rubbed off on him. “What did you do the first day?”

Horatio’s face turned a fascinating red and he quickly looked back towards the ocean. Ryan sniggered, but decided to let it go. Rowen hadn’t influenced him that much. “Enjoying married life?” He asked.

A gentle smile spread over Horatio’s face that Ryan had never seen before. “I sure am, Ryan.”

Ryan smiled as well. “Good to hear.”

Horatio turned back to look at him. “How are you and Eric doing?”

The question surprised Ryan, but he should have expected it really. He shrugged slightly. “I suppose everything’s fine. We’re civil to each other when we’re near each other, but we haven’t worked a case together for a while.”

Horatio gave him an encouraging smile and suddenly it dawned on Ryan that Rowen had probably send him there to ‘make friends’.

Ryan grinned. “She’s watching us, isn’t she?”

Horatio grinned back and motioned feebly with one hand towards the ocean again. “Probably, she said she was going swimming, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was keeping an eye on us.”

Ryan grinned and turned to look towards the ocean himself. He couldn’t see Rowen amidst all the swimmers, but he was sure they were easy visible because of the bright yellow police tape. He shook his head, smiling. “It wouldn’t surprise me either.”

They grinned at each other.

Ryan sighed and then turned back to look at the body. “I probably should get back to work. I wouldn’t want any evidence to go to waste.”

Horatio nodded and then grinned. “Wouldn’t want the boss to catch you slacking off.”

Ryan chuckled and waved as he turned back to his crime scene. Horatio watched him work for a while and then turned around, making his way past the numerous towels spread out on the beach.

“So what did you and Ryan talk about?”

Rowen was drying her hair with her own towel while she was sitting on his towel. Horatio sat down on the sand and pulled her closer to him. They kissed briefly and Rowen pulled away, fixing him with a stern glare. “Don’t change the subject!”

Horatio grinned and laid down on the warm sand, his arms behind his head, closing his eyes against the glare of the sun. Rowen grumbled and moved to sit astride him. “You’re getting me all wet.” Horatio said.

Rowen rolled her eyes. “Save it for someone who cares.”

Horatio grinned and Rowen laughed, throwing her head back. Horatio took a brief moment to admire her smooth features. She was getting a nice dark tan because she’d been hopping around in a dark blue bikini on the beach for the last five days. The first day they hadn’t left the thouse and Horatio could feel a hot flush cover his skin every time he thought back on that day.

“You know, tomorrow you should bring your swimtrunks and go swimming with me.” Rowen said.

Horatio stared at her. “I don’t own swimtrunks.”

Rowen stared at him. “What? How can you not own swimtrunks?”

Horatio shrugged. “I don’t even remember the last time I went swimming.”

She eyed him. “You can swim, can’t you?”

Horatio decided to ignore that. “I’ll have to get a new pair if you want me to go swimming with you.”

“Hmm.” Rowen winked at him. “I’ll help you pick one out.”

TBC